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Ron Miller's DARK CORRIDORS VOL. 10, No. 27 |
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CLYDE FORD'S NEW CHARLIE NOBLE MYSTERY... "WHISKEY GULF"  |
Did a U.S. torpedo sink a sailboat off the coast?
of TheColumnists.com
Just north of the U.S.-Canadian border in the waters of the "inside passage" along the rugged coast of British Columbia, there's a stretch known as Whiskey Gulf, where American and Canadian naval forces frequently confuct battle exercises.
If you're a yachtsman sailing to Alaska along the Canadian coast, you'll want to heed the warnings they give you when you come near those waters because that's where the two navies test their latest torpedoes. They're fired underwater by submarines, fired into the water from tubes on surface-riding vessels and they're dropped into the waters by low-flying torpedo planes. Though they're not armed with the heavy explosives they would carry in wartime, a fast-moving metal projectile can make a pretty good-sized hole in your boat if it scores a direct hit.
In Clyde Ford's new thriller, "Whiskey Gulf" (Vanguard, $24.95), that's what a good many people think happened to the boat called The Rebecca Anne as its owners, the Kinsleys, tried to maneuver through a safe zone in Whiskey Gulf. Something put a hole in their vessel and they were taking on water rapidly when they called in an SOS to the Canadian Coast Guard. But when rescue teams reached their location, the boat was gone. Did the U.S. sink this boat in Canadian waters, then try to cover it up?
That's what seagoing sleuth Charlie Noble needs to find out when a local yacht club in Bellingham, WA, hires him to find out what became of their two members and their boat. He's certainly the right man for the job--a retired U.S. Coast Guard intelligence officer, he lives aboard his own biodiesel trawler in Bellingham harbor, knows the waters of Puget Sound and the Pacific Northwest intimately and already has solved several baffling cases in the area.
If you haven't met Charlie Noble yet, this is a good place to start. He's a fascinating character even when there's no mystery in his path. A widower, he's romantically involved with Kate, a U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant with engineering skills, who helps keep the Guard's ships in good running condition in the Bellingham area. He's an African-American sailor, which makes him slightly unusual in these northern climes. And he also has great knowledge of the current climate of anti-terrorism activity because he served in the Persian Gulf just before his retirement.
This time a major complication in his relationship with Kate surfaces just as he's about to tackle the disappearance of The Rebecca Anne: The man who jilted her just before their scheduled marriage has reappeared, assigned to the Coast Guard vessel where she's currently working. He wants to make things up with her and it throws her into a headspin.
Meanwhile, Charlie gets tangled up with Maya, an investigative reporter from The Vancouver Sun, who already has developed some strong leads about what may have happened to the vanished ship. As is turns out, she's very attractive--and she and Charlie, scou;ting the waters of Whiskey Gulf, wind up discovering some fiberglass sections from The Rebecca Anne, which seems to confirm the notion that it was sunk by a torpedo.
Ford builds the suspense neatly as this fast-moving thriller progresses and Charlie discovers there's a much bigger affair here than just the accidental sinking of a private pleasure craft. When he learns that a Muslim terrorist from the Middle East has arrived in the waters off British Columbia and may be looking to assassinate him, the stakes suddenly become awfully high.
Ford loads "Whiskey Gulf" with extremely credible factual detail about sailing in those fabled waters and raises speculative points about the way military maneuvers are carried on out there that seem to have the ring of truth.
Ford's last Charlie Noble thriller, "Precious Cargo," was one of the best mysteries of its season and lifted him to a new level among msytery writers. The book was first published by a small regional outfit, but was picked up by Vanguard and reprinted last year in a new edition that was available everywhere. "Whiskey Gulf" carries endorsements from two of America's top mystery writers--Robert B. Parker of the "Spenser" and "Jesse Stone" mystery series and fellow Bellingham writer Steve Martini, the author of numerous courtroom thrillers.
"Whiskey Gulf" is a brisk and involving read, which I highly urge mystery fans to try out.
©2009 by Ron Miller. The book cover is courtesy of Vanguard. This column first posted Aug. 3, 2009.
Ron
Miller is a former nationally syndicated television columnist
and the author of "Mystery! A Celebration," the official
companion book to PBS' "Mystery!" series. He currently
writes about television mysteries for MYSTERY SCENE magazine.
You can comment on this column online. Please address your message to either "The Editors" or Ron Miller. To send an email, click here and don't forget to mention Ron's name: talkback@thecolumnists.com
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